New Delhi: Student activist Gulfisha Fatima, arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, alleged before a Delhi court Monday that she was being subjected to communal slurs and mental harassment by jail authorities. Gulfisha Fatima, an MBA graduate, is currently lodged in Tihar jail. She is one of the accused in the case related to the communal violence in northeast Delhi in February.
The submissions were made before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat. Fatima was produced through video conferencing in the case.
Fatima alleged that she was being discriminated against by the staff in the jail. “I have a problem in jail. Ever since I was brought here I have been constantly facing discrimination by the jail staff. They called me educated terrorist and are hurling communal slurs at me. I am facing mental harassment. If I hurt myself, only jail authorities will be responsible for it,” the activist alleged.
After Fatima made her submissions directly to the court, the judge asked her lawyer to file an application regarding this. To this, her counsel Mehmood Pracha said he will do the necessary in the case.
The court had earlier taken cognisance of the charge sheet filed in the case related to the conspiracy in the riots. It summoned all the 15 accused to appear before it. The court Monday directed that the counsels of the accused be handed over a copy of the charge sheet. It put up the case for further consideration on October 3.
In the charge sheet, the police have listed 747 witnesses. Among them, 51 have recorded their statements before the magistrate under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The charge sheet has been filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and various sections of the IPC and the Arms Act.
Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.